Letters: April 26

Protesters hope to provide hope to pregnant women

This is in response to Leah Vanderveen's April 3 letter, "Abortion clinic protesters hurting access to services."

To answer your direct question — "What do protesters hope to accomplish while standing outside of the clinic holding signs?" — we long to be a beacon of hope.

The largest group to first assemble on the public right-of-way near the abortion facility is the biannual 40 Days for Life Campaign, peaceful, community-based campaigns that draw attention to the injustice of abortion through Christian prayer, fasting and community outreach. The others are women and men who represent the Sidewalk Advocates for Life of Las Cruces, and our presence is year-round. We understand that women who seek abortion are burdened by their decision. Many of us are ourselves post-abortive women. Therefore, we absolutely empathize with women in a crisis pregnancy.

Our primary purpose is to offer hope and helpful alternatives. We partner with groups and individuals in our community who can assist women during their moment of crisis. Assistance ranges from housing, transportation, food, medical needs or any other vital necessities.

Why would we do this? Because experiencing an abortion is a humiliating procedure and it has short- and long-term detrimental effects. We are not utilizing scare tactics, nor do we block access to the facility. A woman is not forced to stop and talk with us. Rather, we want women to be completely informed about the physical, emotional and spiritual ramifications of an abortion.

Our intention is not to induce feelings of guilt, but rather hope. Hope, compassion and love are extended to all those who have had, or participated in an abortion, never condemnation.

Most importantly, if you've had an abortion or are currently considering one, please know that there are people who care and are willing to help. You are not alone.

Income inequality back to Gilded Age levels

Sixty-seven billionaires own half of the world's assets. In the United States, the top 3 percent's share of total income rose to 30.5 percent in 2013 from 20.7 percent in 2010. As global resources diminish (with shortages of jobs, food, water and energy) methods of individual coping become violent, as evidenced by the toppling of governments in the Middle East and Africa, where unemployment can reach 50 percent.

Income inequality rose during the 1890s Gilded Age, with its inevitable economic collapse, whereupon ex-President Theodore Roosevelt urged the implementation of an income tax and inheritance tax, observing: "Capital is the fruit of labor and could not exist without it. Property shall be the servant and not the master of a nation. Some kind of control and supervision should be extended to corporations which control the necessaries of life."

The income tax of 1913 imposed 7 percent upon all. Top earners were taxed at 73 percent during World War I and reduced to 25 percent in 1925. The top rate from 1936-1941 was 81 percent. In World War II, it was 94 percent. From 1946-1961, it was reduced to 75 percent until the Reagan tax cuts in 1982 took it to 50 percent; 1987, 38.5 percent; 1988, 28 percent. Huge deficits resulted.

President George H.W. Bush raised it to 31 percent and lost re-election. President Clinton raised it to 39.6 percent. President George W. Bush reduced it to 35 percent during an unfunded war. Deficits soared. Repeat of soaring income inequality.

Corporate taxes as a share of GDP dropped from 6 percent in 1950 to 1.9 percent in 2014.

Corporate profits are now 8.1 percent of GDP. Offshore untaxed profits total $1.46 trillion. Trusts allow the very rich to transfer hundreds of millions to heirs tax free in perpetuity.